Shloka 7

Droṇa-parva Adhyāya 53: Arjuna’s Jayadratha-vadha Pratijñā and Droṇa’s Protective Vyūha (शकटा-पद्म व्यूहः)

Devanagari script

रुद्रने कहा--वसुधाके स्वामी पितामह! आप रोष न कीजिये। जगतका संहार बंद करनेके लिये प्रसन्न होइये। इन स्थावर-जंगम प्राणियोंका विनाश न कीजिये ।। तव प्रसादाद्‌ भगवन्निदं वर्तेत्‌ त्रिधा जगत्‌ । अनागतमतीतं च यच्च सम्प्रति वर्तते,भगवन्‌! आपकी कृपासे यह जगत्‌ भूत, भविष्य और वर्तमान--तीन रूपोंमें विभक्त हो जाय

Transliteration

rudra uvāca—vasudhā-svāmin pitāmaha! mā roṣaṁ kṛthāḥ. jagat-saṁhāraṁ nivārayituṁ prasīda. imeṣāṁ sthāvara-jaṅgama-prāṇināṁ vināśaṁ mā kṛthāḥ. tava prasādād bhagavan idaṁ jagat tridhā varteta—anāgataṁ atītaṁ ca yac ca samprati vartate.

Translation

Rudra said: “O Grandsire, lord of the earth, do not give way to wrath. Be gracious, so that the destruction of the world may be checked. Do not bring about the annihilation of these beings, both immobile and mobile. By your favor, O Blessed One, let this world proceed in a threefold course—what is yet to come, what has passed, and what is presently occurring.”

Word by Word

• {'rudra uvāca': 'Rudra said', 'vasudhā-svāmin': 'lord/master of the earth', 'pitāmaha': 'Grandsire

• epithet of Brahmā (also used for Bhīṣma in other contexts)', 'mā roṣam (mā roṣaṁ kṛthāḥ)': 'do not be angry

• do not indulge wrath', 'prasīda': 'be pleased

• be propitious', 'jagat-saṁhāra': 'destruction/dissolution of the world', 'nivārayitum': 'to restrain

• to prevent', 'sthāvara': 'immobile beings (plants, mountains, etc.)', 'jaṅgama': 'mobile beings (animals, humans, etc.)', 'prāṇin': 'living creature

• being endowed with life-breath', 'vināśa': 'destruction

• annihilation', 'tava prasādāt': 'by your grace/favor', 'bhagavan': 'O Blessed Lord

• venerable divine address', 'tridhā': 'in three ways

• threefold', 'anāgata': 'future

• not yet come', 'atīta': 'past

• gone by', 'samprati vartate': 'that which exists/occurs at present'}

Speaker

नारद उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Rudra (Śiva)
• Pitāmaha (Brahmā)
• Jagat (the world)
• Sthāvara-jaṅgama prāṇins (immobile and mobile beings)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse emphasizes restraint and compassion: even divine power should be governed by grace rather than anger. It also frames cosmic stability as dependent on benevolent oversight, allowing time and worldly processes to unfold as past, present, and future rather than collapsing into total destruction.

What is happening in the narrative?

Rudra addresses Pitāmaha (Brahmā), urging him to abandon wrath and to halt a threatened cosmic destruction. He asks that living beings—both immobile and mobile—be spared, and that by Brahmā’s favor the world continue in its orderly threefold flow of time: future, past, and present.